Solitary Ostara Ritual

Items needed:

1 Gold God candle

1 Silver Goddess candle

4 corner candles

A basket of eggs (real or artificial)

Yellow, Green & Pink ritual candles

Rose or Strawberry incense

Spring flowers

Cauldron & Sage (to purify circle)

A bowl of salt

A cup of water

Chalice of wine or juice

Athame (for The Great Rite) and wand

                                                                   

Cast circle and call the corners. Light the incense and sage.  Invoke God & Goddess.  (DO NOT light the green, yellow and pink ritual candles just yet) -

INVOCATION OF THE GOD:

 “I now do call upon the eternal God in the ancient way, as Lord of Day and Horned One of the Forests. You who are known by many names – Green Man, Cernunnos, Dionysus. Come join me! Bring me your light, energy and protection as I celebrate the Spring Equinox, that magicak time when light and dark are in balance. Send Thy spirit forth so that I, your child, may feel your light within me. As it is willed, so mote it be!”

INVOCATION OF THE GODDESS:

“I now do call upon the eternal Goddess in the ancient way, as Earth Mother and Lady Eostre. You who are Maiden, Mother and Crone – The Triple Goddess be. Come join me! Bring me your love, knowledge and understanding as I celebrate the Spring Equinox, when the land is just beginning to show that which was promised at Imbolg. Send thy spirit forth so that I, your child, may feel your life within me. As it is willed, so mote it be!”

(Eostre is the Teutonic Lunar Goddess of Fertility and Renewal, She symbolizes the rebirth of nature and Her sacred animal is the hare. During Her festival, it was the Pagan custom to exchange colored eggs as a way of celebrating the season of Spring and the anticipation of new life to come.)

“Blessed be this season of Ostara,

  Night of the Spring Equinox,

  Night of balance.

 Tonight all things stand as equals; Goddess and God,

 Life and death, Dark and light,

 All come together as equals as do our young deities.

 But the wheel of the Year turns on

 and after tonight, the light will conquer the darkness –

 Blessed be the darkness,  

 Blessed be the light!”

Take the Goddess & God candles from the altar and light the surrounding ritual candles. When finished, place the Goddess candle back on the altar and say:

“Behold the Goddess who turns the wheel,

 Blessed be life renewed!”

Then, while placing the God candle back on the altar, say:

“Behold the Light of the God,

 Blessed be light renewed!”

Take the eggs from the basket, saving one for yourself, and set them around the perimeter of the circle, clockwise. If anyone else happens to be joining you or if there are others in addition to yourself in the circle, give one egg to each person present.

“Tonight  I celebrate the renewal of my Mother Earth and the renewal of my own life as well, for we are all Her creatures and Her children of Nature.”

Holding the egg in your hand upward, toward the Sun, say:

“The egg which I hold in my hand has long been a symbol of life renewed for as many millennia as our human ancestors have walked the Earth and our Father God, the Horned One of the Forests, has protected that life.”

(The following rite symbolizes the union between the Goddess & God - without which there would not be life. Pick up the chalice of wine or juice and your athame. While slowing dipping your athame into the chalice, repeat the following:

THE GREAT RITE- (symbolic):

“Chalice to athame as Goddess is to God,

 Father is to Mother as man is to woman;

Behold the sacred union of The One!”

When finished, make a toast to the Goddess & God – drinking from the consecrated chalice.

“I am a child of deity,

 I am part of the creative life force which moves the universe;

 I am part of all that is.

 Though we are apart, we are always together,

 For we are one in the spirit of our Goddess and God –

Merry Meet, merry part and merry meet again –

Blessed be!”

Close ritual and open circle, remembering to give back to the Earth afterwards.